Pork Pork Chile Chili: I won $100 bucks with this baby!

Yay! My first food contest winner. Maybe I need to get a truck and take this show on the road...

I've had to rework this recipe so that you can make one normal sized "big" pot (like a 6-quarter) - I made mine in a gigantic (like 5 gallon) pot that is about the size of 3 or 4 regular pots, so my exact exact recipe wouldn't work for most people, but this should be very very close - I'm a firm believer in inexact recipes and making cooking your own anyway, so feel free to experiment. Also it's very easy to make as a very low fat vegan recipe by just leaving out the meat. My inspiration was to do something in between a pozole and a Southwestern styled green chile stew - Enjoy!

PORK PORK CHILE CHILI with bacon and avocado cream topping

1 can garbanzo beans
1 can cannellini beans
1 can great northern beans (feel free to use dry beans instead of canned - just use 1 lb total and just use a mixture of several different types of white beans and cook before using them for the chili)
1 1/2 lbs ground pork
1 pack bacon
1 large can (probably 28oz or something) hominy
1 bulb garlic
1 bottle light colored Mexican beer (I used Corona)
1 small can green enchilada sauce
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
4 4oz cans Hatch fire roasted green chiles, chopped
2 pounds fresh tomatillos
1 small jalapeno pepper
3 green tomatoes
1 large white onion
2 yellow onions
some fresh chives (I don't know...some...)
some Italian parsley (yeah, some...not like a lot, you know...)
4 shallots
1 bunch green onions
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
1 bay leaf
olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1 large avocado

Chop all of the onions, about 2/3 of the garlic, shallots and chives and cook with about 2 tbsps of olive oil over medium high heat in what will be the main chili pot.

Preheat oven to 375.

Essentially the base of the sauce begins with caramelized onions, so while you make and prepare all of the other ingredients, you will be constantly stirring the onions and then adding each new vegetable to this mixture and continuing to stir it over medium heat. Whenever it seems to not stir easily or not have enough moisture, hit it with a shot or so of beer, being sure to also stir up any browned bits in the pot with the beer.

Lay your bacon and the jalapeno pepper out on a cookie sheet and cook til crisp, about 10-20 minutes - keep an eye on it. Pour all bacon grease from the pan into a separate skillet. Reserve bacon. Chop and de-seed pepper and add to onion mixture.

Add ground pork and the rest of the garlic to skillet and cook in the bacon grease until cooked through. Add one can of the green chiles, a shot or so of the beer and a cup of water to the skillet and let the meat braise over medium heat.

Chop the green tomatoes and the tomatillos and add them to the onion mixture. Add green chiles to the onion mixture. Add hominy, spices and enchilada sauce to the onion mixture.Add all of the pork mixture to the onion mixture.

Use remaining beer to deglaze the pork pan - over medium heat just pour the beer in there (add a little water to the beer bottle if you need a little more) and then basically stir and scoop up all of the little porky bits left in there.

Add all of that liquid to the chili pot. Continue to stir and cook as the chili thickens as desired.

Chop up/crumble all of the bacon.

For the avocado cream mixture - mash avocado and mix into the yogurt. Whip until fluffy.

Top chili with the bacon and avocado cream.

Enjoy! You know...in the comfort of your own home...don't even think of trying to come at me at some random chili cookoff all Bobby Flay Throwdown style...seriously....

Bacon Tostadas. Yep, that's what she said.

So, yeah...I made some bacon tostadas.

This was a very good idea, you know, if I do say so myself.

A real mix of high end and low end and leftover stuff, all fabulously mixed up together:

I used some lovely super thick bulk bacon and made itin the oven, in what I have found to really be the simplest way ever to make bacon - 375 degrees with the strips laid out on a cookie sheet for about 15-25 minutes or so.

Drain the bacon grease into a skillet with some canola oil for the tostadas.

I used blue corn organic tortillas from Whole Foods - fry on both sides until crisp, but try to leave that glorious soft spot in the center where it stays chewy (I fricking love that).

I microwaved a cheap can of refried beans (vegetarian, of course - maybe I should have called this the hypocrite tostada....)

And then put it all together - I just broke the bacon strips kind of in half and chunked them on there. And I used this as an opportunity to use up my bounty of takeout taco leftover condiment stuff (because a lot of that usually ends up in our trash and I HATE throwing stuff, especially GOOD stuff, away)- some luscious whole grilled spring onions from Los Comales in Pilsen, shredded lettuce, tomato, green salsas, sour cream and a mild cheddar cheese.

Oh my. Just perfect. The bacon was think and really meaty, the grease in the frying oil gave the tortilla a great smokiness and the coolness of everything else...mmmm...awesome....

Bacon Popcorn

Could any two words together be more glorious? Maybe not.

There are several ways this could be down, certainly some better than the way I did it, but I was looking for quick and hot while also preparing a lot of other food, soo.....microwave! And, of course, a few other elements.

First off, the bacon:

I have been baking bacon for several years now and I have pretty much sworn off pan frying bacon forever and ever since, because baking it is so simple and the results are usually much more uniform, which, of course, creates a problem of me eating all of the bacon before I can use it in my recipes, so I recommend always making twice as much bacon as you really need. Which is why this recipe is awesome, because it's basically just an excuse to eat bacon.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lay a pack (about a pound) of bacon in strips onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bacon looks the way you like it - I like it crispy. About half way through, take the tray out and pour the grease into a cup or bowl and then put the bacon back in the oven to finish. When the bacon is finished, pour the rest of the grease into the cup with the rest of it.

Pop a pack of (preferably) plain popcorn in the microwave - plain microwave popcorn can sometimes be hard to find, but search it out, because I think that artificial buttery flavor clashes with/ruins the awesomeness of the baconess - I found plain at Whole Foods.

::ding::

Then crumble up about half of the bacon and mix it with the bacon grease and mix it all up with the popcorn. Then divide the remaining half between crumbling it on the top of the popcorn and cramming in your mouth. At least that's how I do.